In contrast to Harnett’s emphasis on weight, Peto’s skill lay in handling light and creating optical illusions of flat things attached to the surface. Both Peto and Harnett painted “rack paintings,” often as commissions for businessmen whose names were cited somewhere in the painting. Here, the worn black door serves as a backdrop for the crisscrossed leather straps holding letters and mementoes. The letters bear postmarks from Ohio towns, including Lerado, where Peto’s in-laws lived, and Cincinnati, where he met his wife. The postmarks are dated 1894, two years after Harnett died, yet this painting is one of those “forged” with Harnett’s name, the signature still visible at the lower right. Peto’s paint-covered signature was uncovered by the conservator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, which once owned the painting.